The journal Volume 2026

Every examination we've published.

Newest first. Browse by topic from the navigation, or by category from the footer. Older pieces stay reachable forever — we don't archive away from URLs.

Page 3 of 8

021
Grips ·9 min · May 2026

The Continental Grip: Where the Advice Came From, and What It Actually Buys You

Walk into almost any teaching program and you will hear a version of the same instruction: learn the continental grip first, or you will never serve, volley, or slice the way you should.

022
Grips ·5 min · May 2026

Why Does the Continental Grip Feel So Wrong at First?

Almost every player who has been told to switch grips arrives at the same complaint: the continental grip feels wrong. The racquet face points at the sky. The ball sails long on a groundstroke.

023
Dampeners ·4 min · May 2026

Do Vibration Dampeners Actually Change Racquet Feel and Sound? We Tested Six

The standard locker-room advice is simple: put a vibration dampener on your strings and your racquet will feel softer, sound cleaner, and treat your arm more kindly.

024
Entertainment ·5 min · May 2026

The Most Entertaining Tennis Shots, Ranked by What Actually Makes a Crowd Lose It

The between-the-legs shot gets the highlight reel and the slow-motion replay and the commentator who forgets words for a second. It is the tennis shot everyone clips.

025
Grips ·5 min · May 2026

The Continental Grip Is Worth the Awkwardness: A Reference Guide for the Player Who Keeps Slipping Back

You will get worse before you get better. That is the part nobody warns you about, and it is the most useful thing we can tell you about the continental grip: the discomfort is not a sign you are…

026
Terminology ·6 min · May 2026

Tennis Terminology, One Number at a Time: What "Ace" Actually Counts

In the first round at Wimbledon in 2010, John Isner hit 113 aces in a single match. Mahut hit 103. The match ran 11 hours and 5 minutes across three days and finished 70-68 in the fifth set.

027
Adidas ·9 min · May 2026

Adidas SoleCourt Boost Tennis Shoe Review: A Methodical Court Test

Three hundred ninety-five grams per shoe, in a US men's 10.5. That is the first number we wrote down when the Adidas SoleCourt Boost came out of the box on the scale, and it is the number we kept…

028
Review ·6 min · May 2026

adidas SoleCourt Boost: A Tennis Shoe Review Built Around What Happens on Each Step

A court shoe lives or dies in about 300 milliseconds — the time it takes a foot to land, load, roll, and push off again, several thousand times across a single match.

029
Dampeners ·6 min · May 2026

Vibration Dampeners and Racquet Feel: We Tested Four Dampening Levels on One Racquet

Last month, on a hardcourt in still air, we hit forty forehands with the same racquet, the same Luxilon ALU Power at 52 lb, and changed only one thing between blocks of ten: the dampener wedged…

030
History ·5 min · May 2026

American Tennis History: Did the Pipeline Really Run Dry After the 1990s?

There is a sentence you will hear in nearly every conversation about American tennis history: that the United States produced an unbroken line of champions until the 1990s, and then the well went dry.…